Hope for Parkinson’s patients as scientists discover taking vitamin B3 can stop nerve cells from dying off in what could be a ‘starting point’ for treatment

Reposted from Daily Mail

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  • The Vitamin B3 could also help restore function in nerve cells with Parkinson’s

  • The study found that introducing the vitamin restored the cell’s ‘power cells’

  • An experiment with flies replicated the results, in which fewer nerve cells died

  • ‘Vitamin B3 may be a new starting-point for treatment,’ a study author said

How was the study carried out?

Skin cell samples were taken from Parkinson’s disease patients and turned into nerve cells for the experiment.

The cells contained the GBA gene, a risk gene frequently found in people with the disease, which causes muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, tremors, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, an impaired quality of life and can lead to severe disability.

As expected, the mitochondria – described as the powerhouses of cells – in these nerve cells did not function properly.

In The NewsANAD Staff